SKA stays alive with OT win

For the third time in five games, SKA and Dynamo went to overtime. This time, though, it was the Petersburg team that won it in the extras. As a result, the series continues in the Northern Capital on Sunday with Dynamo leading 3-2.

Sapego strikes sends series back to Petersburg

Dynamo Moscow 3 SKA St. Petersburg 4 OT (1-1, 0-1, 2-1, 0-1)

(Dynamo leads the series 3-2)

SKA kept itself in the Gagarin Cup playoffs with an overtime victory at Dynamo. The visitor led three times in regulation, but could not hold a lead. However, in the 72nd minute Sergei Sapego’s goal means the show rolls back into St. Petersburg on Sunday for game six.

The visitor was by far the more enterprising team in the extras. Dynamo had to block 11 shots in as many minutes as SKA made 26 attempts on goal. Eight of them tested Maxim Motorygin in the home net, and Sapego’s got past the goalie. It came after a flurry of efforts, starting with an Andrei Pedan point shot that was padded away. Valentin Zykov fired wide on the follow-up but the Blue-and-Whites could not clear their lines and Sapego stepped up from the blue line to crash home the game-winner.

The visitor, needing a win to stay in the series, made a great start when Sergei Plotnikov opened the scoring in the second minute. He took just four seconds to convert the first power play of the game after Kirill Adamchuk sat for interference.

But Dynamo hit back at once, with Artyom Mikheyev tying the scores in the fifth minute. SKA continued to create more in the opening frame, but neither team could add to those early goals.

After the intermission, SKA got back in front thanks to Ivan Demidov. The 19-year-old hot shot stretched his productive run to four games with his third tally of the playoffs. Sapego made a big contribution here as well, intelligently halting a Dynamo counter attack as it reached the blue line, then sending a stretch pass to release Demidov on Motorygin.

The Muscovites had more of the play in the middle frame, but could not find a way back until the start of the third. Then a penalty on Alexander Nikishin helped Jordan Weal tie it up on the power play. SKA thought it had the lead again midway through the third period, but Demidov’s second of the night was called back after a successful bench challenge for offside.

Undaunted, the visitor kept pressing and soon had a legitimate goal on the power play. Evgeny Kuznetsov circled the zone before sending the puck back to Nikishin on the blue line. He took a stride forward and unleashed a powerful shot through a crowd of players to beat Motorygin.

For a time, that looked like it had beaten Dynamo as well. But the home team responded on 57:25 after Motorygin made way for a sixth skater. Daniil Pylenkov hammered in a long-range effort that Artemy Pleshkov could not hold. There was still plenty for Artyom Ilyenko to do with the rebound but he showed great hands to slide the puck beyond the goalie and tie the scores.

That sent the game to overtime, the third of the series. Dynamo won the first two but SKA seized the initiative from the start this time. And that effort was rewarded when Sapego struck the winner. Dynamo can still finish the job with victory on Sunday, but SKA can now see a path to salvation.